It is well known to those skilled in the propagation of rose plants that rose plants intended for commercial use are not grown on their own roots, but rather are grafted or budded onto an appropriate understock. For instance, a scion usually in a vegetatively active stage is commonly grafted onto a dormant understock which is either a one-year seedling or a previously rooted cutting. Such understocks are selected because they are agronomically adapted to provide good mechanical support and to efficiently carry out the specialized radicular function. Accordingly, those rose plants commonly encountered are composed of a scion of the desired variety which is united to a suitable understock.
Rose understocks, such as Rosa indica Major (commonly referred to as Rosa odorata in the United States), are of considerable economic importance and have been used in the production of rose plants to produce cut-flower roses. Such understocks possess the ability to increase cut-flower productivity, especially in the winter, and to assist in the adaptation of the scion varieties to difficult soil conditions (e.g. chemical conditions and/or dampness).
It is recognized, however, that it often is difficult to obtain on a reliable and efficient basis a successful graft between the scion variety and the understock. Such difficulty has reduced the number of resulting marketable plants and has substantially increased the cost of rose propagation in accordance with prior techniques. Some understocks, such as Rosa indica Major, have proven to be particularly difficult to graft successfully. Also, when budding has been selected as the rose plant propagation mode, it has commonly required a relatively long cycle (e.g. 9 to 18 months) of open air culture with concomitant relatively large space requirements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the propagation of rose plants.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the propagation of rose plants which can be reliably carried out on an economical basis while requiring less space than commonly required by prior art techniques.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the propagation of rose plants which can be carried out in a shorter period of time than that commonly consumed by prior rose propagation techniques.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the propagation of rose plants which successfully can utilize a wide range of understocks including understocks which commonly are particularly difficult to graft, such as Rosa indica Major.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the propagation of rose plants which can be successfully carried out by personnel possessing a minimal level of rose plant propagation skill.
These and other objects, as well as the scope, nature, and utilization of the claimed process will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and appended claims.